SW : "Now, because Cliff . . . you know, he hates it when
people call him 'Cliff Richards', and older people always call Cliff 'Cliff
Richards', don't they? And why do they call you 'Wendy Richards'?
You're 'Wendy Richard'; why do they do that Wendy, why?"

SW : "So listen, this is a
book of your life story, that you've done here . . ."

WR : "Yeah . . ."

SW : "When did your
professional life start, because we know you, of course, from EastEnders
and so many other things. When was the first time you acted professionally?"

WR : "Well, this is my
fortieth year in the business, and I was very young when I started. But my first
television appearance was with
Sammy Davis Jr . . ."

SW : "No!"

WR : "It was, indeed."

SW : "With Sammy Davis . .
. In what way . . .?"

WR : "Well, Sammy was over
here doing a one-man show at the
Prince of Wales, and while he was here, ATV persuaded him to do a TV show,
and it had all these girls decorating the show. And I was one of the youngest,
and then there was models like Patsie [??] . . . , like, really glamorous girls,
and there was another girl on the show, a red-head, who turned out to be Mandy
Rice-Davis."[Webmaster's note:
Rice-Davis was a notorious figure in the Profumo
showgirl scandal
of 1963 and coiner of the phrase "well, he would (say that), wouldn't he?"]

WR : "Fifteen quid I got
for that . . . Sold half a million copies . . ."

SW : "That was a huge hit,
wasn't it? What year was that?"

WR : "It was '62 or '63, I
think . . ."

SW : "The money just came
through last week . . . [??]. . . How did you get involved then in the TV series
that we've known you in for all these years? I mean, how did all of that
happen?"

WR : "What, the Are You
Being Served??"

SW : "Yes, Are You
Being Served?, in particular."

WR : "Well, early in my
career, I started to work with
David Croft, who is
the most brilliant writer and producer of light entertainment. And I first
worked with David on a series called Hugh and I with
Terry Scott
and Hugh Lloyd. And then I did Up, Pompeii for David, in the briefest
costume I've ever worn. It was only stuck on with toupee tape, all over my
bosom. And then . . . I started to do his Dad's Army, and then we did
the pilot of Comedy Playhouse of Are You Being Served?, and after that
we were up and running."

SW : "When was the point
you ceased to be the dizzy blonde? Because you did really play, I mean, we've
all seen you in movies where you played a dizzy blonde, didn't you?"

WR : "Yes, I quite enjoyed
it . . . you can earn a very good living playing a dizzy blonde."

WR : "Oh yes. It upsets me
when she gets a slagging off in the paper for being miserable and everything,
because she's not miserable
all the time. I mean, the poor woman has had every problem that can be
thrown at you in life, I think. Also, I'd like to say right now that she has not
worn a cardigan for about ten years . . ."

(laughter)

WR : "But . . . no, I'm
very fond of Pauline; both as a character and for the fact that she has given me
a very pleasant life-style."

SW : "Yeah. Let me just
take a break, Wendy. And Wendy Richard is -- and here is the EastEnders
theme now -- and Wendy Richard will be right back in just a moment . . ."

SW : "You get applause in
here. You see, that's what you don't get working on dramas."

WR : "No, you don't . . ."

SW : "You don't get a round
of applause . . ."

WR : "[??] . . . because
when we first started and you might have an amusing line or something, you'd
find yourself pausing, waiting for the laugh and you realize you don't do that
anymore."

SW : "I thought it was
hearing the EastEnders theme that set you off. . . Now, more seriously,
in 1996, you had breast cancer, didn't you?"

WR : "That's right, yeah .
. ."

SW : "So... take us from
beginning to end, because you're okay now, you're cured."

WR : "Yes, touch wood. It
would be five years next February [2001]."

SW : "When did you discover
it, and what went through your mind?"

WR : "I think it was a very
cold, frosty morning. And I went and had a sun cabinet -- you know, one of those
ones that you stand up in -- I thought I'd get some warmth into my back and
everything, came home to have a shower, and suddenly there's this great lump at
the top of my left breast. And I knew instinctively what it was . . . and I was
so angry, and I thought 'how could . . . dare God do this to me?' and then
when you've calmed down, you realize 'well, why not?', you know. It's obviously
sent to you for a reason. But in my heart of hearts I knew I wasn't going to
die. So, anyway, I moved like lightening about getting body scans and all tests
and everything done, and I met this wonderful surgeon, Mr. Gilmore, . . . [??] .
. . and I believed him, and thank God he's been proved right. I was on the
operating table within about eight days after having found the lump -- that's
how fast I moved. And I had to go and film in Jersey a Pauline and Willy
storyline [for
EastEnders], because I knew I couldn't let them down, because it cost
so much to set up, you know, this location filming and everything. And then when
I came back, I had seven weeks of intensive radiotherapy . . ."

SW : "Well, you know, that
pales into insignificance -- don't you think? -- the filming, I mean."

WR : "Well, no, I have a
tremendous loyalty to
EastEnders; and you can't let people down. I mean the BBC were very
good. They looked after me very well; I had a nice caravan to lie down in at
lunchtime and everything."

SW : "Nice caravan . . ."

WR : "Yes."

JLG? : "Wendy, are you one
of these people -- you say that sometimes, that you think that illness is sent
to you for a reason -- are you one of these women who has actually used the
experience of cancer to almost re-assess their life, and come to new decisions?"

WR : "Yes, yes, and I've
tried to help other people in the same situation. I call it 'breast cancer:
being a member of a club that no one wants to join'. . . . [??] . . . But I have
to tell you now, boys, you
can get breast cancer too."

SW : "Is that right?"

WR : "Yes, so don't --
well, you've got breasts, haven't you?"

SW : "Yeah, you just simply
don't often hear of men with breast cancer . . ."

WR : "Oh, yes. You know,
for the last few days, I've been working so hard on EastEnders, I've
not really shopped for ages. And I'm sure they must think my credit cards have
been stolen because I haven't used them. It's terrible . . ."

JLG? : "Where do you go?
What kind of shops do you like?"

WR : "Well, I walk to
Selfridge's; that's my corner shop, and they have some very nice clothes
there . . ."

JLG? : "Do they all know
you in there?"

WR : "Yes, I'm very popular
in the Food department."

(laughter)

WR : "And, um, I don't go
over to Knightsbridge very much; sometimes I hit Bond Street, but you can do
quite a bit of damage to a credit card in Selfridge's."

SW : "[??] . . . Bond
Street."

WR : "Yeah, yeah."

SW : "Do you ever get
fed-up when people must occasionally say 'Hello, Pauline' and you think 'Oh no,
I'm Wendy'. . ."

WR : "Well, most people do.
Most of my fan mail and everything comes addressed to Wendy Richard; the
occasional person will call you Pauline. Usually builders, and then they shout
out 'Where's Arthur?', and seem to find it absolutely hysterical. I think they
can't watch the program: he's been dead for four years. Drives you daft . . ."

(interlude?)

SW : "What about movies?
Because I used to see you in movies all the time. And now of course you're in
EastEnders. I guess you don't make movies anymore. You were in a lot of
those [??] Elstree [??]"

WR : "In the '60s and the
'70s."

SW : "Yeah, and they're
cult movies now, all of those movies are cult movies. No desire to do movies?"

WR : "Well, I would like
to, but as I've said -- I think it was in a newspaper interview, I can't
remember now -- I'm actually saving up two-pound coins toward a facelift; I've
got about 40 quid now. And I'm going to carry on saving, and I think when I've
had my facelift, then I might try for the movies again."

SW : "In other words,
you're saying that you think you look older, but -- we occasionally say this to
smooze up to guests, but we're not saying it this time -- you don't really look
any different. And in fact, they [facelifts] make you look older, don't they?
Because here you are, you look about, what, about 29? "

SW : But it must be
terrible, you know, sitting there, having the years put on."

WR : "The nice thing is
that when one does get the chance to do a game show or a chat show or review on
TV, and you've sort of gussied up a little bit and everything, it gives the
public to chance to see how you really look . . . and then hopefully they can
distinguish the fact that you are
acting when you're Pauline. And when you're doing
Blankety-Blank or something -- sorry,
it's not on the BBC anymore [??]. . ."

SW : "It's okay . . ."

WR : "When you're doing a
game show or something, you know, that's you."

SW : "Yeah. What do you
think of the other soaps, by the way? I mean, do you not sit there down at
Elstree, watching the other soaps, and thinking, 'oh, they've got a good story
on?' "

WR : "We don't get a lot of
time to watch TV at work. I have to be honest with you: I mean, years ago I was
addicted to
Corrie; I really loved it, it was
a brilliant show, and still is, but at home, we don't actually watch a lot of
TV. Of course, my favorite soap is
The Archers."

SW : "Yeah,
John Peel over at Radio
One, yeah, every single night, he listens to The Archers in his
little office there, bless him. . . "

WR : "You see, I can't
listen to it every day; Sunday morning, that hour and a quarter is mine.
Nobody speaks to me, and if the phone rings or the doorbell goes, I know it
couldn't possibly be for me; that is my time. I've actually got The Archers
theme on my mobile phone."

(laughter)

WR : "I was telling Angela
Rippen this, 'cause she's an
Archers fan, so she's going off to try to get it on her phone, so you
must tell John Peel."

SW : "Yeah, okay, you can
actually make your own little tune, you can . . . but coming back to The
Archers: John Peel actually appeared in The Archers, didn't he, as
himself? You could go [??] as Wendy Richard."

WR : "That's what I said!
I've told Vanessa Whitburn: I've said I'm always available; I've got
the [??] coat, the wellies, and everything . . . and who do you think they've
had?
Princess Margaret in
it, Dame Judy Dench,
and I think Terry Wogan's been in it as well, I'm not sure, I think he might
have been."

WR : "Well, my last
ex-husband is like an albatross around my neck. He's already kicked off in the
Sunday rags; yes, he won't be too pleased. But it's all checked for libel;
there's only the truth in there."

SW : "Okay. Wendy, very
nice to see you again. Thanks very much for coming in."